904 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 77. 



ally Mr. J. B. Ellis, Messrs. Seymour & Earle, 

 aud, in Italy, Briosi and Cavara, have carried 

 forward this excellent work. 



Nothing of the kind has heretofore been done 

 in entomology, aud, iu fact, it is only in the 

 case of sc^le insects that this method of publi- 

 cation is possible. Quite recently Dr. A. Ber- 

 lese and Dr. G. Leouardi, of the Superior School 

 of Agriculture in Portici, have begun the publi- 

 cation of a series of Cocoidse based upon the 

 mycological method. The first number, which 

 has just been issued, contains in a large octavo 

 volume, 25 species of Italian Coccidfe of eco- 

 nomic importance. The form of the work is 

 exceptionally pleasing. The printed matter 

 comprises title page, index and the full synon- 

 omy and bibliography of each species. An en- 

 tire sheet is given to each species and a sufficient 

 number of specimens in situ on the leaf or bark, 

 as the case may be, are folded into a commodi- 

 ous pocket. This isublication, for certainly it 

 must be called a publication, will be greeted 

 with great pleasure by all economic and system- 

 atic entomologists. Nothing could be done 

 which would better facilitate the labors of both 

 classes of workers. A number of the synonyms 

 appear surprising, but there is at present no 

 reason to doubt their correctness. For example, 

 Parlatoria pergandei Comstock, a well known 

 enemy of citrus trees in Florida and Louisiana, 

 is according to the authors, identical with the 

 European Parlo.toria proteus of Curtis ; Mytilas- 

 pis citricola Comstock, nee Packard, becomes a 

 synonym of MijtUaspis fulva Targioni Tozzetti ; 

 and for the California red scale of the orange 

 the authors have erected a new genus, Aonidi- 

 ella, the full description of which appears in 

 Berlese's 'Italian Coccidse living upou Citrus 

 Plants,' Part III. L. O. Howard. 



Sypnotism, Mesmerism and the New Witchcraft. 



By Eenest Hart. New Edition. New 



York, D. Appleton & Co. 1S96. Pp. 212. 



8°. 



The demand for a second edition of Mr. 

 Hart's book within three years after its first ap- 

 pearance is a welcome indication that although, 

 as Mr. Hart strikingly illustrates, ' Populus vult 

 decipi,' a small portion of the public at least is 

 willing to be undeceived. The main object of 



the volume is to inspire a reaction against the 

 current uncritical and pernicious devotion to 

 a certain obscure and semi-morbid portion of 

 psychic phenomena. Hypnotism and faith- 

 cure and telepathy and ' Psychic Research ' 

 have been seized upon by men and women 

 without special fitness or training for such 

 study, and have become to these well-meaning 

 but misguided adepts a form of new witchcraft. 

 Not only they, but men of scientific training 

 and wide reputation, have contributed to the 

 general mass of error by carelessness iu experi- 

 mentation, and by a lack of a realization of the 

 vast possibilities of intentional deception aud 

 unconscious self-deception inherent in such in- 

 vestigations. The sensational and extravagant 

 experiments of Dr. Luys, in which he claimed 

 to have demonstrated the action of a magnet 

 upon hypnotized subjects, the transference of 

 sensations from a doll to a subject, the mys- 

 terious influence of sealed drugs acting at a dis- 

 tance, and the like, are particularly well ' ex- 

 posed ' by Dr. Hart. Wooden magnets and ' un- 

 magnetized dolls ' and drugs called by false 

 names were found to be equally effective if" 

 only the subject believed them to be what they 

 purported to be. 



The main addition to the present edition of 

 this series of essays is the one entitled ' The 

 Eternal Gullible,' which contains a very re- 

 markable account of the methods pursued hy 

 by public 'hypnotists,' in London, for obtain- 

 ing bogus subjects. There seems to be a train- 

 ing school where young men with dull moral 

 and ijhysical sensibilities are taught to endure- 

 the pain of needles thrust through the cheek and 

 fingers, to drink paraffin mixture, to sing a 

 comic song, act any pai't assigned by the 

 hypnotist, 'do catalepsy,' aud the like. Mr. 

 Hart's evidence is complete and convincing, but 

 it seems rather strange that such methods 

 should be resorted to wheu the training of 

 genuine hypnotic subjects to do these things is 

 so simple a matter. 



While the general trend of Mr. Hart's volume 

 is to be warmly commended, it will probably 

 weaken its own cause by its slight but ap- 

 preciable overstatement. Mr. Hart records his 

 belief in the reality of the hypnotic state and 

 in the existence of valid and scientific in- 



